The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has urged the Federal Government to stop celebrating economic statistics and focus on policies that directly improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said in a statement on Wednesday that Nigeria’s reported GDP growth is meaningless because millions of citizens are battling hunger, poverty, and rising hopelessness.
“People do not eat GDP,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC criticised the Federal Government for what it described as an attempt to use headline GDP figures to “whitewash” the deep economic suffering Nigerians are enduring across the country.
According to the party, food prices have become unbearable, transportation costs punitive, and small businesses are shutting down daily under the weight of inflation and energy costs. It added that salaries have lost value and families who once lived modestly are now struggling to survive.
“Economic growth that does not reduce suffering, create jobs, improve incomes, or restore dignity to citizens is empty growth,” the statement read. “Growth that only exists in official reports while citizens descend deeper into hardship is not meaningful progress. It is economic abstraction disconnected from human reality.”
The ADC argued that the purpose of governance is not to manage public relations for economic statistics but to improve the living conditions of the people.
The party asked what Nigerians should celebrate, pointing to food inflation that continues to devastate households, millions of unemployed young people, collapsing businesses, and more citizens slipping into poverty despite working harder than ever.
“A government that is serious about economic recovery would show humility, acknowledge the pain Nigerians are experiencing, and focus on delivering measurable improvements in living conditions instead of celebrating figures that have no meaning to hungry citizens,” the ADC said.
The party maintained that the true test of economic policy is simple: Can Nigerians live better today than they did yesterday?
“For millions of Nigerians, the answer is no,” the statement added.
The ADC said Nigeria needs an economy that works for ordinary people, not one that only looks impressive in presentations to investors and international institutions.
“Until growth is felt in the homes of ordinary citizens, through affordable food, stable electricity, decent jobs, lower business costs, and improved purchasing power, this government has no moral basis to declare economic success,” the party said.
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